Although it has been a tough year, the good news is if you are worried about the energy costs of Christmas, they are likely to be less than you think.  

According to Mark Gutteridge from auto energy switching site Flipper, the cost of running LED lights and decorations, and cooking Christmas dinner won’t break the bank.  

“A string of 200 LED lights switched on for eight hours a day for 45 days uses around £0.40 of electricity. So even if you've got several sets inside and outside it will only cost a couple of pounds. 

“As for cooking dinner on the big day, using the oven for 4.5 hours to roast the turkey to perfection plus using the hob for all the veg will set you back around £3. 

“So, getting into the Christmas spirit won't have a big impact on your energy bill.” 

However, Mark still advises households to look at switching to a new energy supplier at this time of year. 

“While the additional energy costs of Christmas aren’t as big as people think, now is still the most expensive time of year due to people having the heating and lighting on all day. 

“Overall a typical household will be using two and a half times more energy than it did in the summer, so changing to a better deal now will make a big difference to energy costs through winter. If you haven't switched yet this year, you will save £100's by switching to a new deal now. 

“If you think you don’t have time to find and switch to a new deal with everything else going on at this time of year, signing up to Flipper takes just five minutes and then they’ll do the rest: find you a better energy tariff, manage the switch and then keep checking for better deals throughout the year.” 

Flipper charges a small annual fee when the customer is switched for the first time. Customers are only switched if savings of £50 a year or more can be made.  

People can register for free with Flipper at www.flipper.co.uk